Blog Post 9

Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning

     Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning is an informative article written by John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller. The article is set up as a guide to help teachers effectively coordinate their students' projects and ensure they find value within it. A quality project based assignment should fulfill each of the seven essentials. If these standards are met students will find their projects to be more meaningful and gain a deeper understanding of the topic.
     First, every good project based learning assignment has to have a need to know. Students often find school boring because the information is not connected to real-world events. Teachers should develop an "entry event" to spark the students' interest. This could be done by playing a video, taking a field trip, or having a guest speaker with expertise on the topic speak to the class.
     Second, a good project must have a driving question. Students should choose a driving question to direct their project and provide themselves with a purpose and challenge to find solutions to their topic. The questions should be open-ended and complex. Furthermore, it should be liked to the material you desire for your students to learn. John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller said "A project without a driving question is like an essay without a thesis." I think this statement is profound because without a driving question the project has no goal. Projects should be goal-driven to help students become motivated to solve real-word problems. This will help them perceive their work as being valuable.
      Third, teachers should ensure their students have a platform to present their work. Presenting in front of the class may be useful however, teachers should allow their students to show their work to a wide range of audiences. This is where technology and project based learning collaborate. Teachers could allow students to post their assignments to their blogger to show the world their discovery. Furthermore, if they were solving environmental issues such as global warming the teacher could invite a worker from the environmental protection agency(EPA) to listen to their recent findings.
     Fourth, project based learning develops 21st century skills. These skills are collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Future workforce jobs require people to work together rather, than independently. Being a team-oriented person is critical to success in the workforce. Project Based Learning incorporates all of these elements because it helps students become more comfortable working together and builds the skills required to land a job in the future workforce.
      Fifth, quality projects should spark inquiry and innovation. In essence, questions should lead to answers. Driving questions should lead to solutions. Students are more likely to become interested in their work if they develop their own questions and find resources to answer them. Once solutions are found innovation happens. Innovation could result from a new project being created, a new solution, or a new idea.
     Sixth, feedback and revision is needed to successfully evaluate projects. This should come from students evaluating their peers work or presenting new ideas to each other. This can be done by using rubrics to help students evaluate themselves. Teams could asses their individual contribution and evaluate the group as a whole.
     Lastly, students should present their project publicly. When students realize their work will be presented to an audience other than the class they care more about the quality of their work. In addition, they are more likely to put greater effort into their assignment and learn more from it. As a future educator I will make sure to implement the seven essentials for project based learning into my classes. I will help my student make real-word connections to the assignments we will be studying and allow them to conduct their own research.

Project Based Learning for Teachers by Tony Vincent was an informative video about how teachers can effectively coordinate project based learning. One of the most important things I learned watching the video was Albert Einstein's quote. He said," I never teach my pupils I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." This quote sums up the goal of project based learning. Project based learning requires the student to conduct their own research. Therefore, they are in charge of their learning. The teacher should serve as a coordinator of their learning rather than someone who requires their students to learn facts at regurgitate them on a test. As Dr. Strange stated, "No more Burp Back education" is needed. Teachers need to incorporate project based learning within their lesson plans to help students take charge of their own learning.

 

 

 

 

 

"What motivates students today" is an enlightening video about why students strive to do well in school. Most of the students have extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation refers to doing something to attain a desired outcome. For example, some students explained they are motivated to get good grades because it will lead to a good job or help them get into college. Their motivation stems from obtaining a reward. However, I believe project based learning takes it a step further. I believe project based learning causes students to be intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation refers to learning because it is pleasurable. This type of learning takes place willingly without external rewards. It is internal motivation. In my opinion, project based learning causes students to be intrinsic learners because students conduct their own learning. The become more interested in the assignment because they strive to find answers to their driving questions.

The "Project Based Learning and Physical Education" article demonstrated how effective and engaging project based learning can be used in schools. High school students were given a letter from a middle school principal asking them to develop PE units for teachers. Students had to make sure those units met state requirements and present their units in front of a panel. This idea shows how effective project based learning can be. The students used the "seven essentials for project based learning" guide and successfully created new PE units. Furthermore, they developed an understanding of PE content standards.

 

 

 

High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of PBL Implementation

Encouragement is one of the most motivating factors to do something. This video gives hope and inspiration to teachers to consider implementing project based learning within schools. The most important aspect this video shows is teachers have to be willing to adept. Teachers need to be flexible and work collaboratively with one another to develop effective project based assignments. I like how the teachers were honest by stating that it is a difficult process switching over to project based learning. It requires great effort to develop lesson plans and coordinate activities for students however, teachers have seen the fruit of their labor. The school reported at 15% increase in passing the high school proficiency exam in reading and an 18% increase in passing the Algebra 2 end-of-course exam. This is circumstantial proof that project based learning works!